One's a True Ghost

The issue of ghostwriting in medical journals is not solely an American phenomenon. A British bone specialist at Sheffield University, Richard Eastell, will appear before a "fitness to practice" committee convened by the General Medical Council, reports The Guardian. According to the paper, Eastell has said that he was the first author on a paper studying an osteoporosis drug, despite not seeing all the data on which the study was based. A British cardiologist also alleges that he refused to sign off on a paper after the company wouldn't allow him to see all the data and that while he was not listed on the resulting study, another cardiologist was — except that researcher died before the study began. "If somebody's name is on something it gives research a credibility that it wouldn't otherwise have. If somebody had not been involved, we would see that as misleading people as to the credibility of the research," says Jane O'Brien, the head of standards and ethics at the General Medical Council.